Replies On Vocal Comments

Introduction

This is a follow on to a previous story that I created on Vocal Comments which you can examine here:

This piece is about what happens when we reply to comments on our pieces, and what happens when creators reply to our comments on their pieces.

So What Does Happen, What Do We Want To Happen, And What Should Happen?

Comments on Vocal stories stay with the story, unlike the ones on Facebook, but the ones on Facebook can tempt others into reading the story so both comment types have their benefits for the creator.

One of the problems is that Vocal flood notifications with unnecessary publication information when publication information is duplicated in two forms on your subscription feed. For me, this means I don't usually see when people have commented on my stories or when they replay to my comments on their stories, but on Facebook, I get notifications on comments, so I copy the comment I make on the Vocal story and where possible I paste the copy on the Facebook shared post.

One of the problems is that when you paste an involved comment (ie more than a "Great Story" or "❤️") as often as not the reply is just a "Thank You" or similar and sometimes we assume that is what the reply will be. That may mean that we miss replies which may be helpful to us and even enhance our stories, but we cannot see what the reply says until we open it on the Vocal Story while usually we can see them on Facebook.

Some comments I have received could often be a Vocal Story in their own right and I always try and respond in kind though I am fairly laconic, I believe an insightful comment deserves and involved reply, but the Creator I am replying to may never see the comment that is my reply to their initial piece.

There is nothing wrong with a "Thank You" or "❤️" but that may never be seen by the Creator, but I am not sure what the answer is to that (though removing publications from Vocal Notifications would be a great help but we no that will never happen despite a filter being mooted two years ago.

I can only just go to stories and check at random, or check if they are shared and commented on in the Facebook Groups, which is not ideal.

I love receiving comments, but there are users who just repeat the same comment on every story, which means that they have probably not read the story, then there are some that you feel are generated by AI, while others give me a lift with their insights and supportive words.

Comments don't have to be long, sometimes some creators can show that they have completely taken in your point in just a few words.

One of the biggest benefits of Vocal Comments is that you know the commenter has read your story and you have their name, but you wont necessarily see the notification on Vocal as it will be pushed out by publication notifications, but if you go into you story you WILL see it.

Conclusion

Replies to comments help build up a story, especially if the initial comment raises a question for the original creator. The thing is the original commenter may not see the notification that they have been replied to. Sometimes there are email notifications but that does not always work.

Conversations that result from comments can be helpful and enhance or Vocal experiences as readers and writers.

Thank you so much for reading, and I would love to hear your thoughts on this.